Fugitive Pieces

Moving, beautifully crafted, unbelievable performances, direct, poetic, raw. I was so moved by this film, I find it hard to compose complete sentences to describe it. This movie touched and inspired every cell in my body. The acting by the entire cast was precise and authentic. How were they able to compile this cast? How did they manage to extract these performances? The writing is intelligent, sensitive, moving and direct. This is a rare script. Each scene in this movie required such an investment by the entire film crew to reach its rare authenticity. The courage it would take to produce this film escapes me. While the result deserves the highest awards, this is not a film that was made for the sake of popularity. This film feels like a labor of love and the result of the truest of intentions. My hat is off to anyone who participated in this film.

This probably says more about my own gray matter than it does about the movie, but I was a good 20 minutes into "Fugitive Pieces" when I realized I'd already seen it. Still, there's something slightly generic about the film; well more than slightly, as Holocaust-survivor movies have become one of the more popular genres going. Let's just say that for me, "Pieces" was not a very memorable example of the genre.

One obvious problem: the protagonist, Jakob, is the least interesting character in the film. Yes, I know that he's a survivor, and that's made him laconic and introverted, but my god is he dull. (I haven't read the book and have no desire to, so perhaps the film is being faithful to the source material. If so this was a mistake.)Another problem: the actor, Stephen Dillane, is at least a decade too old for the part. The scene where he and Rade Serbedzija are shown on camera for the first time is jarring -- Dillane was 50 when the movie was shot; Serbedzija was 60. I find it beyond incredible that not one but two completely hot babes would totally fall for this dweeb. Only in sitcoms, and in the movies.

What I liked: this is a beautifully shot movie. Every frame is a marvel of composition, light and color. And while the Jakob character was a bit dull for my liking, I did appreciate that the movie didn't beat us over the head with the Nazis from Central Casting, as if we were just learning about their atrocities. There are a few, but they aren't gruesome nor gratuitous. In fact just about every character in the film is basically a good guy just trying to muddle through.

Jakob Beer (Stephen Dillane) and Alex (Rosamund Pike) seem to be a happy Toronto couple but Alex finds his journal where he fears losing his identity to Alex. He is haunted by his past and they split up. His Polish family was destroyed by the Nazis and his sister Bella (Nina Dobrev) was taken by them. Jakob (Robbie Kay) was rescued by Greek archaeologist Athos Roussos (Rade Šerbedžija). In Greece, they fear the occupying Nazis and escape to Canada. In Toronto, they befriend their Jewish neighbors who escaped from Warsaw.

This is a gentle telling of a horrifying tale. The adult Jakob is fine but it is the chemistry between Rade and the younger Jakob that is so touching. Rade is so powerful and the kid is so fragile. The movie does miss Rade when he's gone. However, it doesn't mean Jakob's later relationship isn't just as compelling. There is a dreamy, gentle tone throughout.

Fugitive Pieces had a fair bit to live up to. There is a great deal of talent in the cast and the book is incredible, one of the best I've ever read actually. The film may lack the emotional punch and dramatic thrust that the book had but neither does it disgrace it. The book is a very difficult one to adapt(almost unfilmable actually) and the film did so laudably, any film or series that tries to adapt difficult to adapt should be applauded for trying even if they don't entirely succeed.

The film does get too wordy at times, the narration is well written and sticks quite faithfully to the tone of the prose of the book but does over-explain too and takes one out of the film, this was a case of the film benefiting more by more show and less tell, as well as having a jumpy nature. The scenes where Jakob is an adult don't make the same impact of the scenes where he is a child, some of the scenes drag with the scenes between Jakob and Alex coming over as a little dull and flatly written(though well acted by Stephen Dillane and Rosamund Pike), and the narrative structure can be a bit jumpy and confused. And the alternate ending didn't work for me with that of the book being much more tonally fitting and powerful, the film's less downbeat one felt out of kilter and abrupt in how it deals with the characters' fates, almost like the writers weren't sure how to end it.

Fugitive Pieces on the other hand is very well made, it's gorgeously shot and the scenery and such are evocatively done, especially in the scenes with Jakob as a child. The music score is suitably elegiac, the direction is appropriately nuanced and although uneven the script has some truly memorable lines and in keeping with the stoic and sombre if very poetic nature of the book. The story's also uneven but mostly effectively paced and while I said that the book had more emotional punch and dramatic thrust that doesn't mean that the film is devoid of those qualities, the war scenes with Jakob as a child are incredibly harrowing and poignant. The acting is very good from all involved with the most impressive being Robbie Kay in one of the best child performances personally ever seen- playing the role with so much heart- and Rade Serbedzija who is gruff but sincere. I appreciated the subtlety of Stephen Dillane's performance, Nina Dobrev is charming and Ayelet Zurer is compassionate and heartfelt. Rosamund Pike is more than just eye candy, she does bring life and spark despite the writing lacking lustre in her scenes with Dillane and the role being a little thankless and vastly improved over the somewhat shallow and unlikeable Alex in the book.

Overall, uneven and doesn't completely succeed, but very well-made, well-acted and moving, worth seeing. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This week Jews and others around the world celebrated Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed every year since 1959 to "never forget" the murder of six million Jews during World War II. Loosely based on a novel of the same name by Canadian author Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces by Jeremy Podeswa whose father was a Holocaust survivor, touches on an often-overlooked aspect of the tragedy, that those who have managed to survive deep trauma may be unable to rid themselves of their obsessions. The film spans a period of roughly 35 years, beginning in 1942 and concluding in the late 1970, going back and forth in time between the events of childhood and present time. Set in Biskupin, Poland during World War II, seven-year old Jakob Beer (Robbie Kay) witnesses the murder of his parents and the abduction of his beloved sister Bella by German soldiers.

Disregarding Bella's instructions to remain at home, Jakob runs away. Hiding in the forest, he plants himself into the ground "like a turnip", hiding his face with leaves until he is discovered by Athos Roussos (Rade Serbedzija), a warm hearted Zorba-like Greek archaeologist on a dig. Athos brings the traumatized boy to his home on the sun-drenched island of Zakynthos in Greece where they live through the Nazi occupation, suffering deprivation but surviving the atrocities that befall Greece's Jewish community. The relationship between Jakob and Athos is slow to develop but they eventually form a bond. "I will be your koumbaros, your godfather," Athos says. "We must carry each other. If we don't have this, what are we?" After the war, Athos receives a teaching position in Canada and they move there hoping to forget the past. Jakob, now played as an adult by Stephen Dillane, has neighbors who are also Jewish immigrants and he develops a close relationship with Ben (Ed Stoppard) who he watches grow into a gifted writer. Though Jakob has become a successful writer in Canada himself, his marriage to the lovely Alex (Rosamund Pike) is threatened by haunting memories of Bella and his obsession with the Holocaust. Her vivacity and joy for life is in sharp contrast to his solemnity and he "longs for the loss of memory", and writes about his wife's "shameless vitality" saying, "To live with ghosts requires solitude".

After their breakup, Jakob falls in love with Micheala (Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer), a scholar twenty-five years his junior, and her charm and intelligence allows him to venture out of his shell. Fugitive Pieces is a quiet and sensitive film that has a touching poetic quality and Robbie Kay turns in one of the best child performances I have seen in years. Though the film often becomes too literary and does not soar dramatically, its message is strong - that though we should never forget a tragedy, there may be a steep price for remembering.